Hate Reading the Waking Up Married in Vegas Trope

We all have tropes, or even entire sub-genres, that we don’t love. Often, we tend not to read anything in these areas; for me this includes dark/mafia romance and secret baby. I don’t tend to enjoy these type of books, so I just don’t read them when there are so many other great books from tropes I do love, just waiting for me to pull them from my TBR!

But have you ever hate read a trope? Just like hate watching a TV show, these are the tropes where there is something about them that bothers us, but we read it anyway.

For me, this is the waking up married in Vegas trope. I won’t lie, I’m going to sound like a super uptight, judgmental old lady here, but the reason this trope rubs me the wrong way is I can’t get over how irresponsible it is.

I know, I know, just hear me out.

Usually, the waking up married piece happens right away, so our first introduction to our main characters is that they were so intoxicated they didn’t realize what they were doing. It’s just not a great look and makes it hard to like your hero’s/heroine’s right away.

Now, I’m not saying it’s imperative to always love the protagonists in a book right away. Some of the best stories include character arch’s where we have to grow to love a character over time as more of their past/motivations are uncovered. But usually, the unpleasant MC is balanced by a more agreeable character (it’s even an entire trope in and of itself—hello grumpy/sunshine!). In the case of the waking up married in Vegas trope, our first look at both characters is usually not one that paints either in the best light. As always there are exceptions to this, which I’ll explore in a bit.

So, why do I still read this trope? I don’t always, if it’s a stand-alone book with this trope, I usually avoid it. But, if it’s part of a series I’m reading and I’m intrigued by one or more of the characters from previous books, or from an author I love and trust, I’ll give it a go.  

And what I’ve found is that once I get past the awkward irresponsibility of the first few chapters, it usually turns into a good book that focuses on other tropes I do enjoy. The waking up married part is usually a set piece to lead to the uncomfortable forced proximity of our characters that then gives way to either what is essentially a fake dating scenario or friends to lovers.

In the case of friends to lovers, due to the marriage and dealing with the aftermath, either both MC’s will discover previously unknown feelings as they begin to see their friend in a new way, or one friend wants to keep the marriage as they have always harbored secret feelings. In the latter, it possible the in love friend wasn’t entirely drunk when deciding to get married as mentioned above, but it’s still a little shady as they knew their loved one was inhibited when deciding getting hitched was a good idea. I know this all creates conflict, which is what a good book needs, it can just be a tough pill to swallow.

What I’ve more commonly read are books where the two decide to temporarily agree to stay together as it would benefit one or both of them in some way to pretend the marriage is real. This was the case in a book by Devney Perry I recently read, Jasper Vale. This was the fourth book in The Edens series I was reading, so I gave it a try. And I did enjoy the book once I got past the first part. The couple agrees to stay together for a few months and pretend the marriage was intentional because the heroine doesn’t want to seem irresponsible to her family for many reasons, and the hero needs a date to his ex’s wedding so he can show he’s moved on. Of course, by the time the agreed upon months to stay together are over, neither want to divorce as they have fallen for the other. Much like a fake engagement story, only they are married. 

I struggle with this trope, but I sometime hate read it anyway, and often enjoy the book overall. I just have to swallow my own personal bias and get over the first few chapters, then ease into the trope the story is begins following after the intro. We can read with selective amnesia right?

Are there any tropes or genres you find yourself hate reading?